Posts tagged: Copywriting

The bookshelves are littered with "How to make millions in your underwear" books aimed at new copywriters — most of them pretty light on original thought.

What’s missing are the books that actually tell you how to do things — books that offer you enough information that you can confidently take on a paying job and expect to deliver a professional product.

No, I haven’t written white papers in a long time (my last similar project was an 80 page book on hard drive technology written better than 13 years ago), but I clearly remember the confusion when I was first asked to write one.

You Copied. Sometimes Poorly

The valley was one of the early "boom and bust" cycles that plagued the high tech industry, and for a copywriter whose clients were slashing ad budgets left and right — cutting the legs out from under the campaign work I’d being living on — "no" wasn’t in the vocabulary.

Without resources like Michael’s book to fall back on, I took the job, found a white paper that looked presentable, and copied it.

Of course, it was poorly conceived, badly organized and the victim of an ugly layout, and yes, I largely repeated those mistakes. And — unlike Writing White Papers — that sample white paper didn’t come with interview tips, research help, and outlining hints.

Marketing the White Paper

Michael’s book moves beyond creating the white paper into marketing it; a nice, value-added touch that could separate you from other copywriters.

For all the value it delivers, the book isn’t without its weaknesses. I would have liked more formatting examples, and the chapter on marketing could have included a few lead generation flow charts to help the novice writer explain the process to a client.

Still, those are nitpicks — especially when balanced against the "Quick Start" chapter (actually Appendix 1) and the "White Paper Resources" Appendix.

Stelzner, of course, writes a leading copywriting blog, and he’s always adding relevant white paper content to his blog — essentially building atop the foundation provided by his book.

Writing White Papers is the kind of book I wish existed when I needed it (Michael, you did me dirty by waiting too long).

Of course, it’s of little value if you’re planning to write Nike TV campaigns the rest of your life, but for anyone who wants to enter one of the strongest markets in the copywriting universe, then this book is probably a must.

(Full disclosure: I have no commercial interest whatsoever in this book.)

I’m a learn-it-yourself kind of guy, which means I learn by doing. As a result, it’s often hard for me to teach; instinctive learners like myself don’t always understand the progressions used by other types of learners.

By contrast, Michel Fortin’s always excelled at breaking things down for his readers, and his current post hits home: finding your own Unique Selling Proposition (or “hook”):

Time and time again, I’ve told many aspiring copywriters and marketers that a USP is what distinguishes you from the pack. It increases perceived value, expertise, and credibility — without needing to state it outright.

But since I hear this question often, particularly from copywriters just entering the field, I sense that it’s because people need a little help in defining their USP.

What do you do when you’re doing more copywriting work for a client — but effectively getting paid less? The Copywriter Underground talks about “Project Creep” — and how to avoid the revenue drains that follow.

Done any free work lately? Or seen that work used in multiple places — without ever receiving a dime for the additional uses?

The never-demur Harlan Ellison — a successful, outspoken and abrasive writer — tells it like it is in this short interview. Great stuff — I would have laughed more if so much of it hadn’t been painfully on target.

Ellison still writes on a manual typewriter, and successfully sued movie producer James Cameron after noticing the original Terminator script bore a striking resemblance to two of his own short stories.

He’s fought (viciously) for writer’s rights since the early 1960s, and serves as an excellent counterpoint in the current times, where intellectual property and creator’s rights seem to be going to the way of the Dodo bird.

Bookmark this video, and when you feel yourself edging towards a giveaway — when you’re about to apply a value of “zero” to your work — give it another viewing.

And then read Michel Fortin’s latest “Olympic” pricing post. I wouldn’t apply his approach on all my jobs, but it’s a good example of thinking through the pricing process — namely, what are you really getting paid for, and what does your client know about the process?